


Things You Said...

by AtropaAzraelle (Polyoxyethylene)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Flash Fic Collection, Fluff, M/M, Major Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia, Minor Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum, ported from tumblr, prompt fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 11:56:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16912434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyoxyethylene/pseuds/AtropaAzraelle
Summary: A collection of tumblr prompts on the theme of "Things you said..."1: Things you said when we were on top of the world - Gladnis2. Things you said through your teeth - Gladnis3. Things you said under the stars and in the grass - Promptis4. Things you said I wish you hadn't - Gladnis5. Things you said after you kissed me - Gladnis





	1. when we were on top of the world

The night sky was painted in a thousand glittering beads. Ignis stood at the edge of the haven, looking out at them. He could see the galaxy, the constellations, so many things he’d read of in so many books when he was younger but had never seen before leaving the city.

Heavy footsteps approached as quietly as their owner could manage behind him. “Breathtaking, isn’t it?” he asked, without turning around, without tearing his gaze away.

He heard Gladio stop behind him, and the pause between the stoppage and his answer made Ignis wonder if he’d been trying to sneak up behind him for something. “Best view in the world,” he agreed.

Ignis turned, looking back at Gladio with a smile. He looked like he was spun out of silver, his skin pale in the starlight, the giant eagle on his chest and arms picked out in shadows that seemed to move as if the beast breathed. Ignis almost saw that watchful eye wink at him. “I always wanted to see the stars,” he admitted, catching Gladio’s eye and flashing him a smile before he turned back around.

Gladio seemed to take the acknowledgement as invitation, and Ignis felt a warm, large hand settle onto his back, and then slide over to his hip as Gladio came to stand by his side. “I remember,” he said. “I always planned to take you,” he added, tugging Ignis in against his side.

Ignis let himself be tugged, until Gladio was a warm, solid weight against him. It only took a small movement of his head to rest it against Gladio’s shoulder. “You still can, one day,” he said.

Gladio gave a thoughtful murmur, and Ignis felt the squeeze as he was held a little tighter. “When all this is over,” he said, “that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Ignis smiled softly and found Gladio’s hand with his own. Gladio’s fingers lifted as Ignis eased his own underneath them, and spread to allow Ignis’s fingers to interlace with his before locking Ignis’s hand in place.

“Hey, Iggy?” Gladio asked, breaking the comfortable silence before it had really settled. “What did you wish?”

Ignis turned, and looked up at Gladio. He was looking out at the sky, his profile striking against the backdrop of constellations and volcanic rock. “Pardon?” he asked.

Gladio looked down at him, and Ignis felt his heart skip a beat as he was ensnared in an amber gaze that was warmer than the fire behind them. “You’re supposed to wish on the first star you see, right?” he asked. “So what did you wish?”

Ignis felt his body heating with the low intimacy of Gladio’s voice, and the intensity in his expression. He rallied, forcing himself to answer. “If you tell your wishes to others, they don’t come true.”

Gladio frowned at him. It was almost a pout. “How am I supposed to make it come true if you don’t tell me?” Ignis felt himself melt at the words, his shoulders dropping as he gave a small, exasperated sigh. “Wanna know what I wished for?” he asked.

“Do tell,” Ignis replied.

“This,” Gladio said, and leaned in.

Ignis closed his eyes as soft lips found his mouth, and he was drawn in against Gladio’s chest, his arm pinned between them. The fingers loosened on his hand as Gladio’s other hand found his cheek and sank back, into his hair, and Ignis felt that small, familiar thrill shoot down his spine as the tip of Gladio’s tongue found his own.

He kissed back, sweet and earnest, and opened his eyes as Gladio finally pulled away. Gladio was looking down at him with such adoration that it made Ignis’s toes curl, and he eased his arm out of the way, resting his palm over the head of the eagle on Gladio’s chest, covering its watching eye with his hand before he admitted, “It seems we wished for the same thing.”

Gladio’s smile was bright, and suggestive. “Better do it again then, just to be sure we both got it granted.”

This time Ignis leaned up, and met him halfway.


	2. through your teeth

“Iggy?” Gladio’s cries echoed across the empty Citadel square. “Answer me!”

His voice sounded foreign to his own ears, intrusive in the silence that had swept across the city with the sunlight. It was eerie. The only thing Gladio could hear was his own heart thundering in his ears.

“Don’t be dead,” he whispered, fear rising like bile in his throat. It wasn’t panic, not yet; he didn’t have the adrenaline left to panic, but his insides were trying to do a pretty close approximation. “Iggy!” he called again.

They’d got separated. The daemons had come, and then more of them, and more of them, wave after wave clamouring to get to the Citadel’s doors, to get to the throne room, to get to Noct and stop what he was about to do.

What he had done.

Gladio had almost forgotten how bright sunlight could be, how blue the sky, how beautiful the world. It was warm on his skin, and left him shielding his eyes as the sky had cleared. The sun had been there, as if it had never left. The scourge had been a shroud over the sky, a storm of darkness that had broken, and passed, and left the world bright and still in its wake.

Prompto had been close by, still on his feet, but barely. He had a limp, and cradled one arm in the other, wincing with pain.

There had been no Ignis.

“Ignis!” Prompto called, and then winced as he stumbled, trying to keep up with Gladio’s long stride.

Something prickled along the edge of Gladio’s senses, and he held a hand out to Prompto, palm up, the universal gesture for wait. He closed his eyes, listening for it, the faintest sound in the silence.

A gasp, a soft groan.

“Iggy!” he shouted, feet already taking him towards the sound. “Hold on, I’m coming!”

He bounded over rubble. Some Red Giant’s sword had scored and scorched the Citadel’s stone, the ground cratered and cracked where it had brought its weapon down onto the concrete. The lamppost was bent over, head touching the ground, almost as if it was pointing the way. Stone and brick lay strewn where they’d been cast by a giant’s furious swings.

Stone, and brick, and Ignis.

“–dio,” he hissed, the first half of the name lost in his throat and coming as no more than a gulping sound.

Gladio skidded to his knees, looking Ignis over. This wasn’t the first time he hadn’t known what the fuck to do when Ignis was injured, and he really hoped this wouldn’t be the last, either. “I’m here, Iggy,” he said, reaching out to take Ignis’s hand.

He felt Iggy’s fingers tighten, hard, and then relax as Ignis took another breath, pain crossing his face as he did. “Forgive me?” he whispered.

“Don’t you die on me,” Gladio replied, squeezing Iggy’s fingers back. Ignis gave a despairing gasp, his breathing unnaturally shallow and fast.

The slipping, uneven footsteps of Prompto approached hurriedly behind, and Gladio looked around. Horror was writ across Prompto’s face, and he looked down at himself, panic starting to take over. “I think I’ve got a potion,” he said.

“It’s too late,” Ignis said, gasping again. Gladio turned back to him, saw his chest trying to lift. “Noct,” he began, and then gritted his teeth in agony, his back arching weakly towards the sky.

“Don’t try to move,” Gladio warned, placing a hand over Iggy’s heart. It was fluttering under his ribs, too fast, and too desperate in its attempts to keep his blood flowing. He knew what Ignis was trying to say; he didn’t need to hear it. Noct was gone, and the magic with him. Without Noct, a potion was just an energy drink. It wouldn’t help Ignis now. “Just take it easy.”

Ignis slumped under him, going slack, and exhausted. “Gladio?” he asked, in a whisper. “Is it beautiful? The sunrise?”

Gladio felt his throat closing up. He bit his lip and sniffed as his heart shattered in his chest. “Second most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he answered, thickly. Behind him, Prompto started to cry.

For a moment, for a split second, Ignis smiled as he always had whenever Gladio came out with something mushy. Then he gasped again, gritting his teeth against the pain that was tearing through his body. He gave a small cry, and Gladio reached out to cup his cheek, and squeeze his hand.

Ignis squeezed back, his teeth still bared against the waves of pain as he said, “I love you.”

Gladio bent down, pressing his lips to Ignis’s forehead. “I love you too,” he murmured against his skin.


	3. under the stars and in the grass

Noct bent over, fighting to draw breath back into his burning lungs. His legs felt weak, his arms were jelly, and his heart was pounding so hard against his ribs he’d swear the others could hear it. The act of standing up seemed like too much effort.

Ignis looked at the sky, one hand to his face as he adjusted his glasses and looked as composed as only Ignis could. Gladio was dragging his hands down his face, muttering something to Ignis in a breathless undertone that was probably something about that being a close call because Ignis nodded in agreement.

Prompto gave in to the rubbery feeling of his limbs and collapsed back onto the grass with a small whoop. The ground was stained with the black ichor of defeated daemons, fading even now as Noct watched it evaporate from under his feet, but Prompto didn’t seem to care as he looked up at the sky, and the stars above. “Hey Noct?” he asked, turning to face Noct with wide blue eyes, “what say we call it a night and head for the hotel?”

Noct tried not to wince in apology. Prompto had been wary, when it was getting dark, but Noct had said it was fine, and they were to keep going. Now it was gone midnight, on the clearest night they’d had in weeks, with the air turning cold, and they were a long and uncomfortable trek from the car, and a haven.

“That might take all night,” Noct admitted, holding his hand out and down towards Prompto. A warm hand slapped into his, fingers curling around his wrist, and Noct found himself looking into eyes that had already forgiven him for getting them all into this mess. He gripped Prompto’s wrist in turn, the bracelet he wore shifting under Noct’s fingers as his grip tightened, and then he pulled, heaving Prompto back to his feet. “I’ll make it up to you once we get there.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Prompto replied, flashing Noct a grin.


	4. I wish you hadn't

Ignis lay supine in the bed, unmoving except for the barely perceptible rise and fall of his chest. Every so often Gladio convinced himself he was seeing things, and that Iggy’s chest wasn’t really moving, so he held a hand in front of his mouth, heart in his throat, and almost convinced himself that he couldn’t feel Iggy’s breath fluttering against the fine hairs on the back of his hand, either.

Iggy lost his cool when it came to Noct being in danger. Gladio knew it, had always known it. The easiest way to tear through Ignis’ collected rationale and logical mind was to put Noct in real, genuine danger. 

Gladio knew it, and he understood it. Gladio had Iris, and Ignis had Noct, and where the thought of Iris being hurt and unable to fight back made Gladio’s stomach do flips and his adrenaline rush through his head and his heart, Ignis had the exact same response if you put Noct in that position. He’d seen Ignis in pieces once in their lives, and it was when Noct was hurt, a tiny child, tucked up in a big bed, unable to wake up after a daemon attack. Iggy had cried a young child’s tears, hands shaking and face red, and he’d apologised to an eleven year old Gladio he barely knew at the time for being seen in such a state.

“A brother is supposed to protect, aren’t they?” he’d asked, his voice wobbling, and trying to sniff his tears back. “I wasn’t there to protect him.”

“You’d have got hurt instead,” Gladio had told him, fishing for a tissue and coming up empty.

“That doesn’t matter.”

_It did matter_. Oh god, did it matter. Gladio brushed the backs of his fingers over the creepy silver skin around Iggy’s eye. It felt charred, and rough, like it was dead, but the skin around it was miraculously warm, and pink and alive. “What the fuck did you do, Iggy?” he asked him, in a whisper.

Gladio knew the answer. He’d seen the ring suspiciously close to Iggy’s hand, he knew what the ring was supposed to do to anyone that wasn’t royal. It burned people up, from the inside out. Shit, it did that to the Kings that wore it too, it just spent years doing it to them. Ignis shouldn’t be alive now, if he’d put that ring on, and Ignis would know that too.

Gladio settled his weight onto the edge of the bed and brushed Iggy’s fallen hair to one side with his fingers. Ignis wasn’t awake to give his explanations, to tell Gladio what exactly he’d faced, alone, for Noct’s sake, but for now Gladio would take him being alive. 

Maybe things would have been different if Gladio had been faster.


	5. after you kissed me

Gladio’s lips were soft, and a thrill ran down Ignis’ spine as Gladio’s tongue probed sweetly at the tip of his own. If he closed his eyes there was nothing but sensation; the heat of Gladio’s fingertips at his cheek, the soft brush of another mouth against his own, and Ignis lost himself to it, leaning in to the consuming presence that Gladio had become in front of him.

His hands drifted up, finding the soft cloth of a worn crownsguard hoodie under his fingers, and beneath that the solid form of Gladio. He explored with both hands, feeling the shape of Gladio under his clothes as Gladio pressed ever deeper into his mouth and Ignis felt his heart throwing itself against his ribs and trying to hurtle out of his chest. 

The fingers at his cheek moved and nudged his glasses, stroking over the arm and into his hair, following it to the shell of his ear. Ignis’ eyes lifted slowly when Gladio pulled back, his lips parted and his breath heavy against Ignis’ skin. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he said, his voice a low thrum that Ignis could feel through his whole body.

“Don’t stop now,” Ignis replied, his voice a soft whisper as he closed his eyes again and leaned back in.


End file.
